Kobe Bryant Knows No One Wants To Play With Him

Over the past five or so years, the time period in which Kobe Bryant had officially cemented his status as a legend, champion and top 10-ish all-time NBA player, he has also become the best interview in the league, by far. He truly gives no f*cks and will go unfiltered at any time and never pulls any punches.

That was on display again yesterday, when Kobe called into The Dan Patrick Show to chime in on a myriad of topics ranging from the current Laker situation to President Obama (including his own pitch for Obamacare).

Kobe was in prime zero-f*cks-given form saying point blank if the Lakers’ situation was better he would indeed be playing right now, refusing to offer Mike D’Antoni an endorsement when given the chance and again letting it be known that he wanted Phil back in LA when the organization had the opportunity. But it was his admission, half-tongue-in-cheek, half serious, that President Obama could make the current Lakers roster that requires further analysis.

The question is, what does Kobe’s unfiltered criticism of not only his organization but teammates as well do for the Lakers future? Los Angeles isn’t the preferred landing spot for big name free agents it once was, and Kobe is at least part of the reason why. Every all-star level player he’s played with in his career he’s clashed with, and was reportedly a big reason why Dwight Howard bolted when he got a chance.

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Not only that, there are other extenuating circumstances. Part of Slim Thug’s Twitter pitch to lure Dwight to Texas involved the lower child support rates in Texas when compared to California. Believe it or not, this is a huge deal for an NBA player with millions of dollars, and multiple children by multiple women (just look to Steve Nash’s fight against California child support if you don’t believe it).

These things matter to NBA players, especially when Texas and Florida offer the benefit of no state taxes, and look at where most of the big name free agents of the past five years have signed, Texas and Florida. Plus, if you were going to sign up to play in LA, wouldn’t you want it to be down the hall in the much more fun and stable Clippers environment?

Kobe’s contract, $48.5 million over the next two years, is another deterrent in any potential Lakers plans for the future, despite fan pipe dreams of Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, LeBron, Carmelo and whoever else they Photoshop into Laker jerseys for creepy murals. Yet in still, if Jeanie Buss has a say (and she does) Kobe will get a huge farewell tour, regardless of how these next two seasons play out:

“We never got an opportunity to do the farewell tour for Magic Johnson… Kobe, by signing that deal, will have played 20 years for one organization, I guarantee that won’t happen again. … We don’t draft players at 17 anymore. To have the kind of longevity that he’s had, makes it extremely special and I think that Lakers fans understand that.”

Kobe has officially been ruled out for the rest of this season, and the Lakers were the very first team in the league mathmetically eliminated from playoff contention after their loss to the Spurs last Friday.

Lol and the lakers think they can attract someone to play for then when kobe is in the roster. I feel bad for wiggins or Parker or Exum if they get drafted and have to get their ear chewed off by the mamba. as a capitivated observer since the Dwight Howard/mike d’antoni acquisition, kobe is the anchor holding down the lakers and they can’t move anywhere with kobe still on the roster. He hamstringed their cap and who they can attract to turn that turd around. In the battle of ny vs la, it really comes down to who is gonna coach. Despite the roster, I don’t think anyone on the knicks is gonna challenge Phil Jackson. And the lakers have cap space and a potential top 5 pick they can get people but who is gonna coach kobe and the rebuilding project

Basketball Gods aren’t letting the Lakers get a top 5 pick you can bet the rent money on that one. Wiggins, Parker aint happening bruh. Sorry to break it to you but you heard it here first. Lakers will have a 6-10 pick. No trade chips, Carmelo aint coming, Durant aint coming, Love don’t live there anymore.

It’s a shame bottom dwellers without 30 wins at this point of the season are making headlines. NY Knicks are trash….no chance at the playoffs. If and only if, they somehow move Amare “The Contract 2.0” Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler (he forgot how to play defense obviously) and Andrea Bargnani (why did they trade for him…idiots) nothing is going to happen. Same results next year.

Lakers have nothing except Kobe. Nobody wants Pau Gasol…they been trying to trade that guy for 3 or 4 years now…no takers. Steve Nash retired when he left Phoenix. I didn’t even know he was still on the team but we don’t get a lot of West Coast games in the south so whatever I know he can’t play with the younger PGs these days. The draft picks, prospects and scrubs they have to fill out the roster….trash. Couple that with D’Antoni still having a job….what a disaster that is.

I wasnt as much of Kobe fan before but I started liking him more and more as he became more of an asshole. Who gives a fuck if no one wants to play with him. Players these days sound like some pussies. They want all the luxuries. These guys make millions. Why would you not want to play with a legend.

Same here. Normally it doesn’t work for me but Kobe wears that no-fucks-given attitude so well I gotta respect it, even when it renders him blind to the bigger picture of things sometimes. He’s fucking all the Lakers’ money up but hey, they gave it to him and he’s cool with it. So I can’t be mad.

i dont knock him for taking the money, or the lakers for giving it to him, he’s earned it. but it’s no doubt going to affect their immediate future negatively. especially if his health continues deteriorating

You can make millions on teams that are teams, not the Kobe show. If you are going to hate going to work because your co-worker makes your life shitty. Wouldn’t you take one of the 29 other job offers you can probably get?

Why take Kobe’s shit? Because he will make you a better player and help you win a championship? And who says you have to take Kobe’s shit? My assumption is Kobe respects those who give him shit back and have tough skin. Where can you have a better experience than LA? Oh yeah I forgot, lovely Cleveland, or Milwaukee, maybe Philadelphia…the Lakers have shown a commitment to win, evidenced by their track record.

I think the ease and quickness he throws pau gasol under the bus when they were losing is what turned ppl off. Gasol was the deciding factor that brought the lakers from not making the playoffs at all or 1st rd exits to 3 finals appearances. I’m not saying he should get finals MVP or nothing but that trade saved Kobe’s legacy. He shitted on gasol so much in the last 5yrs.

Lakers fans shitted on Gasol. Kobe loves Gasol. He pulls his card when he perceives lack of effort, but remember, Kobe is basically a basketball psychopath; his perception of effort is way different than yours or mine.

More like better not trade my whipping boy. All regular season after the 3 finals Kobe has publicly criticized gasol and never himself. That’s why every off season the lakers shop him cuz they go off Kobe energy of shitting on him, then Kobe says don’t trade him. All so he can scapegoat him again when they start losing.
Kobe talks bout him publicly the way Phil Jackson would do any player, the problem is Kobe isn’t Phil and it doesn’t work the same way. He tryin to be zen master but he’s not. But that’s what he was taught from Phil so it’s all he really knows.

So we’re going to act like Pau Gasol doesn’t exist? Kobe demands a lot from his teammates. Everybody in the world knew Howard wasn’t going to work out in LA cus dude is too soft and immature, same with Shaq, well immature at least. A lot of people say players don’t want to be on his team but then the Olympics roll around and they love him. I bring it up every time a convo like this is had, memo LBJ wade Paul they all said kobe made them better players. I understand kobe is a once or twice(mj) in a lifetime player when it comes to sheer motivation and basically a psychosis

Kobe just basically admitted he’s playing these last couple years for the money, and I’m definitely okay with that.

I never blamed Kobe for taking the money, because he knew all along no one really wants to play with him so why take the pay cut and have all the top FAs skip over LA. Then he’s still on a bad team plus out of many more millions.

While Kobe is a hyper competitor, he knows that LA isn’t going to pull the difference maker(s?) plus a supporting cast that is championship-worthy in two years. You can tell by how he’s taking upper management to task in the media. If he really wanted to win, he wouldn’t have bothered extending his contract with the Lakers.

dont mind kobe taking the money, its like he said, why should HE take the paycut. lakers are a billion dollar franchise, THEY should cut the check. hes earned it. its shortsighted, but he only has a limited time left.

If nobody want to come to the Lakers it ain’t because of Kobe, it’s because of management. Jesus Christ, yaw comments is killing me. Nobody wanna play with Kobe? Nash did. Paul did. Pre dwightmare Howard did. Did Howard not say Phil coaching would have changed his mind?

Since yaw niggas know the future, hook it up with them mega millions numbers for tomorrow.

Pau got traded there, Howard, while choosing to get traded to LA, did so reluctantly and found it awful playing with Kobe, and Nash came while he was going through a divorce and LA gave him the perfect chance to contend while still being near his children. Plus they were the only organization willing to give a 38 year old a $27.9 million deal even though he had declining skills and a bad back.

Kobe said it himself that nobody wants to play with him, and he would know. Is that not enough for you?

Dwight found it awful playing with Kobe in the diantoni system, prior to the reluctant trade he said he would play worth Kobe if he could play worth anybody. Lakers weren’t the only team interested in Nash, he was still a top pint guard, he came after he talked to Kobe….. And stop pulling shit out ya ass. Show me the quote if Kobe said that.

My bad on that Kobe quote. Considering the title of this article I took it for granted he said that specifically in the talk with Dan Patrick. I still stand by my point though.

Steve Nash got his other most serious offers from NY and Toronto. Neither gave him the proximity to his children as LA while still allowing him to compete. I still don’t thinking was a bad decision to get him. Just didn’t pan out.

Kobe’s and Dwight’s relationship went further than just D’Antoni’s system. It was an attitude difference and overall lack of respect probably both ways, and when you consider that over the span of 14-15 or so years that Kobe has had problems with Shaq, Dwight, and has belittled teammates (Bynum, Parker, LA’s whole current roster) you gotta think he’s the common denominator. of course Phil Jackson would intrigue Howard. A man walking through the door who is the ultimate wining coach walks through the door, you’ll give it some thought.

And to the Lakers’ credit, they’ve never had sizeable cap space in a summer where you could get a star, let alone a superstar.

shaq was in 1996… right? and no, during the kobe years before pau there were plenty of free agents and cap room that never amounted to anybody in purple and gold. guys arent just falling over themselves to play in la or with kobe, its clear as day.

Real players want to play with Kobe. If you care about the team, work hard, and learn from mistakes, Kobe will not pose an issue to you as a teammate. A lot of you act as if Kobe is some team cancer, but he has had good relationships with many of his current and former teammates: Fisher, Gasol, Turiaf, Blake…to name a few. And clearly what he said to Nick Young was somewhat sarcastic. And the notion that Kobe is holding the Lakers franchise down, pure lunacy. The guy has won 5 ships and averaged 27 ppg on 45% shooting as a 34 year old shooting guard. Not easy: just look at what Wade has been doing while missing 1/3 of his teams games this year. Players respect Kobe and want to play with him, Durant called him the GOAT a couple days ago in an interview. And what’s with the title of this article? Never did Kobe admit to that, nor is it true.

Which Kobe jersey do u own #8 or #24? Just curious.
And u can take gasol off that list of friends after it was reported that Kobe and his wife are the reason gasol fiancé left him. But I guess I’m clueless about that too huh.

The last big FA the Lakers signed was Kobe. He was a FA in 06/07 and shopped around eventually resigning. Now I know you meant FA from other teams, but…. Cleveland nor Toronto didn’t sign their big FA’s in 10′. Just saying.

I wouldn’t go as far to say LA isn’t a designation just because DHoward didn’t sign. LAL throughout their history (only have 6 losing season in team history) have gotten that star whether through trades (KAJ, Wilt, Pau), Draft (Kobe- via trade, Big Game, Magic), or FA (Shaq). My point is LAL always figures it out (See the vetoed CP3 trade….they always seem to have a plan). Plus those banners and that history will lure someone or they will find a way.